


dance, dance, revolution

by atamascolily



Series: slice(r) of life [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Conversations, Family Feels, Fix-It, Fusion of Star Wars Legends and Disney Canon, Giant Spiders, Hacking, Multi, Planet Kashyyyk (Star Wars), Wookiees (Star Wars), look parenting is hard okay, take your kid to work day in the rebellion, the empire continues to be a piece of shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:47:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29379438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atamascolily/pseuds/atamascolily
Summary: Norra Wexley returns home after the Battle of Endor to discover her sixteen-year-old son shacking up with his genius slicer boyfriend, an unrepentant murderbot with a fondness for song and dance, and a bumbling mouse droid.AKA the perfect crew for a planet-wide jailbreak.(Fix-it forAftermath: Life Debtby Chuck Wendig.)
Relationships: Brentin Wexley/Norra Wexley, Zakarisz Ghent/Temmin "Snap" Wexley
Series: slice(r) of life [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2164293
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6





	dance, dance, revolution

**Author's Note:**

  * For [virusq](https://archiveofourown.org/users/virusq/gifts).



> Thanks to virusq for suggesting Snap/Ghent in the first place and for enthusiastic support for continued hijinks. 
> 
> The "You sliced into a prison network?" exchange is based off a post from incorrectstarwarslegends on tumblr, which in itself is probably based off something entirely different, but it was too good AND relevant not to include here in a slightly modified form.

The second-to-last thing Norra Wexley expects to find after breaking into her own home is her son in passionate embrace with some sort of blue-haired... creature? It's hard to determine the species when she's dangling upside and a skeletal B1 battledroid covered with painted flames points a blaster at her chest, which manages to top Temmin's interrupted make-out session.

"INTRUDER ALERT," the battle droid chirps in an eerie robotic monotone. "SHALL I DISPATCH IT FOR YOU, MASTER TEMMIN?"

Temmin turns bright red before quickly settling on a sickly grey as recognition dawns. "Wait, no, Bonesy, that's _Mom_ \--"

"NOTED," the battle droid says and lowers the blaster. "GREETINGS, MASTER TEMMIN'S MOTHER. WELCOME TO OUR HUMBLE ABODE." With a whir of the vibroknife standing in for one of its arms, it cuts her free. "I'M SURE THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP OR SOME OTHER MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL RELATIONSHIP."

Norra, collapsing to the ground, isn't so sure about that. She sits up and rubs her head, glaring daggers at her son in time-honored parental telepathic tradition that requires no translation. Even though it's been three years since they've seen each other, Norra is pleased her son visibly wilts at her ire. As well he should.

"Why in the seven moons of Spinifire have you rigged up the house with _booby traps_?" she demands.

"Well--er--uh--"

"We have a lot of people trying to kill us," the blue-haired creature pipes up from his position on the bed. From Norra's new vantage point, the speaker is undisputedly a human male who isn't put off in the slightest about his lack of clothing.

(In contrast, the half-naked Temmin is vibrating with so much embarrassment it would be funny if Norra weren't so angry.)

"Surat Nuat keeps sending people to mess with us," her son explains. "You can't blame us for wanting some peace and quiet, Mom! And it's not like we were-- _expecting_ you or anything--"

He has a point. Norra probably should have messaged ahead, but she was so wired in the aftermath of the Rebel victory at Endor that it hadn't even occurred to her. "Noted," she says dryly. "So why is Surat Nuat"--a local Sullustan arms dealer and crime lord--"after you two, anyway?"

"We stole a bunch of supplies from a wrecked transport," the blue-haired kid explains helpfully when it becomes clear Temmin is incapable of coherent speech.

"THERE WAS MUCH VIOLENCE!" the battle droid adds with gusto.

Norra's head throbs. " _Why_ \--"

"It was for the junk shop, okay? I needed spare parts," Temmin bursts out, as if the admission is a deeply painful one.

It takes a moment for Norra to process this. "Oh, so _that's_ why the downstairs level is such a mess. I _wondered_ if that was intentional or not, or if you had just decided to take a wrecking ball to the place in my absence--"

Temmin juts his chin in a gesture so much like his father that Norra's heart momentarily seizes in her chest. "Well, what did you _expect_ when you walked away and left me on my own--"

"Well, I'm here to make up for lost time," Norra manages, aware she's on shaky ground, but doing her best to bluster through it. "I'm sure you heard that we defeated the Empire at Endor--"

"You were supposed to find my _father_!"

She tried. She really did. But it's a big galaxy, and the Empire has lots of nasty places for people to disappear, and she's never been able to trace Brentin after his arrest. For all she knows, he died in a back alley in Myrra three years ago and never even made it to the station for booking.

So she did what she could against the Empire, fought back to make them hurt as much as she did. And it _worked_ , and they _won_ \--

\--except her son doesn't see it that way.

Fuck.

"Oh, your dad? I know where he is," the blue-haired kid says, as if he's just remembered something important.

Mother and son wheel on him in an instant. "WHAT?"

"Brentin Wexley, right?" The kid yawns and stretches with casual ease that Norra envies right now. "He's in some medium-security level prison called Ashmead's Lock on Kashyyyk."

"You knew and you didn't tell me?" Temmin demands.

The kid shrugs. "It was gonna be a surprise. You know, for your lifeday. I guess it still is a surprise, but... happy early lifeday?"

Norra's mouth is still hanging open. No way. No way this random kid in Temmin's bed knows the intel that Norra has been desperately seeking all these years. This has to be a trap.

But if it's not--

Temmin looks his boyfriend straight in the eyes. "You have proof?"

The kid nods. Temmin hugs him and bursts into tears, leaving Norra and the kid to eye each other awkwardly. The kid tentatively pats her son's shoulders as if the slightest touch will shatter him. Clearly, he's not as poised as she originally thought, despite the indifference to nudity.

Norra brushes her hands together, suddenly very tired. It's been a long day, and the drama of the last few minutes hasn't helped her headache. "I'm going to take a shower and get something to eat," she says, rising to her feet. "I want you two dressed and presentable by the time I'm done."

"ROGER-ROGER, MASTER TEMMIN'S MOM," the battle droid says, offering her a salute with its vibroarm as she stalks away with as much dignity as she can muster.

***

Nothing kills the mood like your mom walking in just as things were getting interesting. Worse, Ghent doesn't even have the decency to be properly embarrassed. "Why should I?" he says in response to Snap's hiss of annoyance. "She's _your_ mom, not mine."

"Don't you--I don't know--want to make a good impression or something?"

Ghent shrugs. "Seems a little late for that after she got snagged by the booby-trap. Which was your idea, by the way."

His boyfriend's logic is insufferable. Snap gathers his clothes in a huff and kicks at the doorframe on his way out.

By the time Snap slinks into the kitchen, Mom is there waiting for him, her hair damp from the 'fresher. She's perched on a rickety stool next to the counter, cobbling together an odd mix of edibles scavenged from the fridge while a fresh pot of caf bubbles in the brewer. As she registers his approach, she downs the mug in front of her in one gulp as if to fortify herself for their next encounter.

"Hi, Mom. Sorry about--earlier." He's fantasized about his mother returning home, but he never imagined anything quite this awkward.

She favors him with a regal nod and keeps eating.

"Mr. Bones means well, he really does. I built him from scratch," Snaps says into the silence, increasingly grasping at straws. What does she want from him? "Ghent and I--we--"

"I hope you're using protection."

Snap flushes. " _MO-OM_!"

"What? I come back to find you living on your own, having turned our house into a quasi-legal junk shop, with armed criminals targeting you on a regular basis, and I'm supposed to expect someone has explained the atele birds and the ya-ya flies to you? Not to mention all the terrible venereal diseases out there?"

Wow, could this be any more humiliating? "I'm not a _kid_ , you know," Snap mutters at the floor.

"So you _are_ using protection, then?" Mom says, refilling her mug.

Snap slams his fist down on the counter. The mug rattles from the impact but doesn't spill. "There's nothing I need to be _protected_ from!"

"DON'T WORRY, MASTER TEMMIN'S MOM, I RAN ALL THE NECESSARY MEDICAL SCANS WHEN THEY FIRST BECAME ACQUAINTED," Mr. Bones calls from the foyer.

Snap _didn't_ know that, and somehow that makes it even worse.

"Temmin--" Mom says.

"I go by 'Snap' now," he says. It's a stupid hill to die on, but he's got to draw the line somewhere.

"Fine. _Snap_." She's not happy with him, but that's fine--he's not thrilled with her either.

Ghent comes in at last, his arms full of data cubes, which he spreads out on the counter. He's wearing one of Snap's shirts which is far too big for him, trailed by the vapid little mouse droid that adores him, beeping with pathetic joy as it zips along the rickety kitchen floor.

He tosses one of the cubes to Mom. "Here."

Mom catches it easily out of the air and pops it into the reader tucked away behind the toaster (or at least what _used_ to be the toaster; Snap's most recent round of tinkering has rendered it more or less useless for anything besides a smoking hunk of cinders). She purses her lips as the coordinates come up as Snap tries and fails to pretend he's not peeking over her shoulder.

"You really did slice into the prison network," Mom says at last.

"Is that judgement I'm hearing?"

"More like admiration." She favors Ghent with another smile, this time genuine. At least _one_ of them isn't on her shit list anymore.

"Thank you," Ghent says, blushing. He turns to Snap. "Happy lifeday!"

"Kashyyyk," Mom mutters as she scans the data, clearly thinking aloud. "The Wookiee homeworld, still under the Imperial thumb. If I can get Solo and Chewbacca and maybe even Princess Leia or Skywalker involved--"

"And us. Don't forget us," Snap says, crossing his arms over his chest. "We're coming too!"

"We are?" Ghent says, blinking in confusion.

Mom is Not Having It. "Snap. No."

Snap feels his face go red. Does she have to keep shooting him down like this? "You wouldn't even know where Dad was if it wasn't for Ghent! Let's face it--you _need_ us!"

"DID SOMEONE MENTION VIOLENCE?" Bones sticks his skeletal frame partway through the doorframe. "FOR THE RECORD, I AM ALWAYS IN FAVOR OF VIOLENCE. IT IS ALWAYS THE ANSWER AND SOMETIMES THE QUESTION AS WELL."

Mom's mouth dropped open and she turns to regard Snap with a weary sigh. "Did you _program_ it to be like this?"

Snap shakes his head. "Mostly he just figures stuff out on his own."

"I AM VERY GOOD AT VIOLENCE," Bones says hopefully.

"Right," Mom says, closing her eyes and tilting her head back from a long moment. "I'll see what I can do."

And that's when Snap knows they've won, but he waits to high-five Ghent and Bones until they're all safely out of her sight.

***

The last thing Norra wants to do is drag her son with her into a war zone. Worst Take Your Offspring To Work Day _ever_. But-- there is that crazy but effective B1 battle droid to protect him, and a slicer of Ghent's caliber is hard to come by at any price. So she makes it work.

Chewbacca is all in, of course, which means that General Solo is, too. Just like that, they have a ship, a crew, and official support from the Rebellion High Command. The princess is off on official business, but sends her regards, with the promise of more troops coming later once they're finishing with the prison. 

Norra is half-hoping Commander Skywalker will come along, but Solo shakes his head when she asks. "Luke took off with Shara Bey on some mission of his own," the smuggler says, shaking his head. "Some sort of Jedi mumbo-jumbo. He's gonna be so jealous when he finds out we've managed this little job without him."

Bey is an A-wing pilot in Green Squadron - one of the best, Norra thinks privately, even though she doesn't know anyone outside of Gold Squadron except by reputation. Rumor has it that Bey nearly blasted Skywalker to pieces when he was escaping from the Death Star in a stolen shuttle right before it blew. Apparently, Skywalker isn't the type to bear a grudge over a little friendly fire.

Solo is skeptical about "babysitting a bunch of teenagers" as he calls it, but Norra finally wears him out. "Okay, okay," Solo concedes, throwing his hands into the air in surrender. "But they stay on the _Falcon_ the entire time. And they don't touch _anything_!"

***

Snap can't believe he and Ghent are finally on their way to Kashyyyk--on the legendary _Millennium Falcon_ with Han Solo and Chewbacca no less! Even if Solo yells at him every time he or Ghent so much as glance at a control panel, it's worth it if they can get Dad back. Oh, and freeing an entire planet from Imperial rule while they're at it is gonna be great, too.

Solo doesn't like Bones--or Snap or Ghent or the mouse droid that Ghent insisted on bringing along for company--and has banished all of them to the lounge while in transit. Mom says he's just grumpy because the last time he loaned the _Falcon_ out in the battle at Endor, its pilot lost the satellite dish and Solo is coping by taking it out on them instead.

Snap sulks about not getting to break into the prison himself, until Mom reminds him that it's his job to monitor the sensors and make sure the Empire doesn't spot them until it's too late.

Mom spends most of the trip telling stories about various battles she's been in, which goes a long way towards easing Snap's anger about being left behind on Akiva without her for so long. What can he say? Starfighter stories are awesome, and Snap has always been easy to bribe. Plus, they're going to get Dad back, even if it took longer than either of them expected, so everything's going to work out in the end.

Snap remembers the day his father was arrested, the stormtroopers spilling into the kitchen, knocking over the furniture as they hauled Brentin Wexley out into the street in his pajamas. Snap doesn't know how or why the stomtroopers came for him, but the image is seered into his memory and no amount of time has eased the pain. The only way they'll be a family again is if he can get Dad back.

And Commander Wedge Antilles sounds _awesome_ \--Snap can't wait to meet him if they all survive.

There's not much of an Imperial presence on Kashyyyk, at least from orbit. Once they get in atmo, Solo and Chewbacca thread the _Falcon_ through the massive wroshyr trees that will prevent any stray sensor scans from detecting them and park the ship under a dense stand of trees.

By the time the rescue crew is ready to leave, dawn is just peeking over the horizon, though will be at least another hour before any light penetrates the canopy.

"Good luck out there, Mom," Snap says to her when it's time.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," his mother says, hugging him fiercely. "We'll be back with your father before you know it. Just don't leave the ship, okay?"

"And don't touch _anything_!" Solo reminds them, as Chewbacca growls a warning that requires no translation.

Then the adults troop down the ramp out into the forest, and Snap and Ghent are alone. Well, mostly.

Mr. Bones stands in the corner, humming contentedly to himself as he sways in time to the music. He's been really into dancing lately, ever since Ghent accused him of being "creepy" and "a permanent resident of the uncanny valley," which Bones apparently took to heart.

Snap isn't sure how the dancing fits into all this, but Bones is just... odd like that. Even Snap doesn't understand him most of the time.

"Aren't you excited?" Snap says now, poking at Ghent.

Ghent shrugs, but doesn't look up from his datapad. "Meh. I don't like it when people shoot at me."

"Nobody's going to shoot at us," Snap says. "We made it all the way here without being detected, and I doubt anyone's going to find us now. Easy in, easy out, just like Solo said. And then once we get Dad and the other prisoners out--the New Republic's going to attack! Mom says her commander Wedge Antilles is going to be leading the starfighter wing. I can't waiiiiit.

"Someday they're going to let me fly in a _real_ battle, you know," Snap continues grandly. "I've been practicing on the simulator, and it's gonna be _great_. The Empire won't know what hit them. Pew, pew, pew!" he adds, miming blaster fire.

"Uh-huh," Ghent says distractedly, stroking the little mouse droid whirring at his feet.

"No, really!"

***

Everything goes smoothly at first.

Carving out a conventional prison in such heavily forested terrain is difficult, even with massive quantities of forced labor and no ecological scruples. The Imps have opted for a different route: the _Ashmead's Lock_ is a permanently grounded prison transport occupying a massive swathe of what was formerly a thriving grove of ancient wroshyr trees far removed from the surrounding villages.

This makes Norra's life easier: there are no fences or barriers to cut through and the Imps don't bother with ground patrols, either. Per the plan, they stow _Falcon_ a few klicks out and approach on foot.

"We get in, we do the job. If we're lucky, they won't even know what hit them. Just like Endor," Solo says as the three of them thread their way gingerly through the dense, fern-laden understory.

Chewbacca growls something unintelligible.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. At least no one's going to tie us up and _eat_ us here."

Norra shakes her head. She's never been so glad she wasn't a part of that strike team--she had plenty to do in the air. The only reason she's here now is because of Brentin. She'd never forgive herself if she didn't go, and neither would Snap.

"Let's get moving. Brentin's waiting for us," she says.

"That's your husband, right?" Solo says.

"That's right," Norra agrees carefully.

"And here I thought you and Antilles had a thing."

Nora flushes, grateful for the darkness, and hopes Solo doesn't notice her discomfiture. "We don't. Wedge and I just friends, okay?" There's an awkward pause. "Until last week, I didn't even know Brentin was still alive," she admits at last.

"Hey, hey, I get it," Solo says. "I got married once as part of con job, but it went haywire and we never officially got divorced. Surprised the hell out of me when that woman showed up a few years later still claiming to be my wife."

That's not... _quite_ the same thing, Norra wants to point out, but anything to steer the conversation away from her own love life. "I bet the Princess had things to say about that."

"Uhh-huh. She did. Strong ones." There's a pause as Solo thinks it over. "'Course, that was before she admitted she liked me."

Yeah, Norra remembers. The whole Alliance remembers those days--and then what happened after the retreat from Hoth, when the princess got real quiet and sad, and that was worse. Everyone's happier now that Solo is back.

"I'm just saying, life is short, so you gotta do what makes you happy," Solo opines. "Trust me, I'm not one to judge--"

Anything else he might have said is cut off as a giant blue and grey spider drops down from the trees on top of them and narrowly misses Solo's head with its forelegs.

Solo swears, grabbing his blaster and firing point-blank into the creature's eight gleaming eyes. The creature recoils, but doesn't retreat, chittering fiercely as it contemplates which of them to attack first--then lunges straight for Norra.

She dodges, but just barely, the pointed edge of the clawed limb slicing into her jacket. She tries to run, but she trips over a fern-covered log and falls flat on her back as the spider looms over her, its chelicerae chomping with anticipation. She reaches for her blaster, hoping that will buy her a little more time to come up with a better plan--

BOOM. The creature's massive abdomen explodes in a shower of green goop as a bolt from Chewbacca's bowcaster strikes home. Norra is covered in spider guts, but that's a damn sight better than being eaten alive.

"What the hell was that?" she says shakily as she pulls herself to her feet and starts wiping herself off as best she can with a handful of fronds. "I thought you said nothing was going to tie us up and _eat_ us out here--"

Solo doesn't even have the grace to look abashed. Chewbacca launches into a lengthy explanation in Shryriiwook.

"Wyyyschokk," Solo translates. "Kashyyykian giant weavers that live in the lower levels. They're extremely common in the understory, and obnoxiously intelligent. And they don't bother to tie you up before they eat you most of the time."

"And you were going to warn me about them _when_ exactly?"

Solo shrugs. "Oh, they're nothing we can't handle. Every Wookiee cub's first lesson is how to fight 'em, so Chewie's got us covered." He shakes his head as his partner gestures them onward. "Come on. We'd better hurry before more of them show up."

 _No wonder the Empire doesn't need guards here_ , Norra thinks, as she trudges after her companions, spider guts squishing in her boots.

Over the next hour, they are waylaid two more times by wyyyschokk attacks. Now that the initial surprise has worn off, it's not so bad, Norra has to admit. She could almost-- _almost_ get used to this. She's proud of herself for bagging the third one before it jumps anyone and they make it to the _Ashmead's Lock_ without further incidents.

The ship is big and ugly, its stern partially buried in the dirt where whoever was transporting this thing just dropped it. Their destination is a tiny airlock off to one side, which opens without protest for them when they apply Ghent's encrypts.

"That kid is really pretty good, isn't he?" Solo admits, impressed in spite of himself as the lock slides open without a fuss.

Norra can't help a weird burst of parental pride, even though she has absolutely nothing to do with her son's choice of partners. Still.

Getting Chewbacca through the tiny porthole is an ordeal in of itself, and they eventually cut their way through the siding, subtlety be damned. No alarms go off at the perimeter breach--Ghent's slicing magic at work--though with any luck, they won't be here long enough for the Imps to notice.

From there, it's a long slog through the loading dock up to the detention bay where the schematics claim Brentin is being held. But what they find inside shakes Norra to the core.

The room is a warehouse, packed with orderly rows of dark black coffins are stacked on top of each other. The silence is broken only by a low familiar hum. Oh, hell.

"I think we found what we came for," Norra blurts.

Solo lets out a long, slow, whistle. "Stasis fields," he says, shaking his head. "Well, that explains why there's so few staff on site. Don't have to worry about prisoners escaping if they keep 'em unconscious."

Norra looks down at the control panel for the nearest coffin and an ID code blinks back at her: BY-A6923. "Brentin's in BY-Z9881, wherever that is," she says, rummaging through the coffins in search of it.

"I thought we were gonna free everyone," Solo says.

"Brentin first," Norra says firmly.

Of course, that's the moment a pasty-faced human in slate-gray uniform of an Imperial prison warden walks in, flanked by half a dozen burly Wookiees. None of the Wookiees are armed beyond the usual four limbs, but Norra knows from watching Chewbacca in action that's more than enough to cause serious damage.

Chewbacca isn't shocked to see his people here--he's _furious_. He bristles and growls at the Wookiees, who stare back glassy-eyed and silent.

"Hands up! Drop your weapons and get down!" the warden orders.

Exchanging glances, Norra, Solo, and Chewbacca comply.

Looks like their luck just ran out.

***

Snap is bored, which translates into pacing, fidgeting, and annoying Ghent. "Can't you pick up any signals from the prison?" he whines for the upteenth time.

"I'm _trying_." Ghent sucks in a breath through his teeth. "Okay, got it. We're in."

"Yes!" Snap shouts, pumping his fist as blurry security footage shows up on Ghent's screen. Most of it is is empty rooms and corridors, but as Ghent flicks through the feed, Snap spies a set of familiar faces--

"Wait, Ghent, that's--"

Mom and her team are kneeling on the floor with their hands over their heads while a strange man flanked by Wookiees looms over them, a smug expression plastered on his face. There's no way this can possible be good.

The screen goes black and a mechanical voice intones, "Greetings, trespassers! This is Imperial Prison Ship _Ashmead's Lock_. I am the ship's IPU, or Intellectual Processing Unit, designation SOL-GDA: Synthesized Operating Layer, Grid-Based Drive Array. Welcome to my ship. Prepare to die."

"Oh, _fuck_ ," Ghent says as his datapad crashes. "They're onto me."

"We gotta do something! They're gonna kill Mom!" Snap shouts, his voice cracking halfway through.

Bones perks up from his place in the corner. "DID YOU SAY 'MURDER,' MASTER TEMMIN?"

Both Snap and Ghent turn to stare at him, their eyes wide.

"You know," Snap says slowly. "That's not a bad idea..."

***

Norra has never met a small-minded Imp bureaucrat who didn't love to monologue, and this one is no exception. She's heard most of the particular speech before, so she tunes it out most of it, but a few facts leap out to her as potentially important. The Wookiees have bio-electronic control chips in their head, which the warden controls through a remote on his person. She can use that if she can just figure out how to get it away from him.

Norra hates the thought of shooting the Wookiees if they rush her, but she also hates the thought of dying here. Maybe she could just shoot them in the knees instead? Wookiees were pretty durable, though; that might not be enough to slow them down. Or maybe she should just let Chewbacca handle them and go for the warden and his control remote when she dives for her blaster.

Or maybe they're all going to die here and she's kidding herself that she can actually do anything about.

She's come so far to find Brentin. She's so close. She's not going down without a struggle, but Norra's experienced enough to know that she might not survive the next few minutes.

At least she doesn't have to worry about Temmin and Ghent right now--

***

"He said not to touch anything," Ghent hisses, wringing his hands as Snap eases the _Falcon_ up from the forest floor.

"Yeah, well," Snap says with a shrug. Unfortunately, he doesn't trust himself to go through the canopy without damaging something in a craft this large, so he opts for punching through the treeline into low atmosphere, subtlety be damned. "Technically, we haven't left the ship. Ready, Bones?" he adds over the comm.

"ROGER-ROGER, MASTER TEMMIN. PREPARING TO JUMP ON YOUR SIGNAL," Bones chirps from his position next to the rear airlock.

Ghent taps the mouse droid, which had sprouted some sort of bizarre tumor when Snap wasn't looking."All right, go on now," he says,and the droid zips away with a cheerful squealing of wheels.

"What's that for?" Snap asks.

"Oh, I just put a camera on it so it can get footage of Bones in action."

"Why?"

"Because this is going to be so cool if it works."

Snap can't argue with that logic.

Bones is pleased by this unexpected addition to the party. "EXCELLENT. I WILL FIGHT MUCH MORE SKILLFULLY KNOWING I HAVE AN AUDIENCE."

"You two be careful out there, okay?" Snap says into the comm, his voice catching a little as he realizes the risk he's asking Bones to take.

"I WILL APPLY MY USUAL LEVEL OF DILIGENCE TOWARDS REMAINING FUNCTIONAL, MASTER TEMMIN," Bones promises. There's a faint beep in the background that is most likely the mouse droid. "AND MY COMPANION AS WELL."

"Thanks, man," Ghent says. "I knew I could count on you."

This is all very touching, but they are now rapidly hurtling towards the _Ashmead's Lock_ from low atmo and therefore out of time. "Would you hurry up and _jump_?" Snap shouts.

"APOLOGIES, MASTER TEMMIN. JUMP COMMENCING IN THREE--TWO--ONE--"

And then there's nothing but a tiny, skeletal figure falling without a paracute or repulsor boosters or anything of the sort, the mouse droid wrapped protectively against its the chest, and Bones is gone.

The plan is to fly interference over the prison and distract the authorities while Bones goes in and rescues the prisoners--standard assault tactics. Of course, the last thing Snap expects is for the _Ashmead's Lock_ to fire _back_ at them.

He dodges, but it's a near thing, and the wroshyr tree behind them goes up in flames.

"Whoa!" Ghent says. "They're shooting at us!"

"Yes, I _noticed_ ," Snap says, as half the alarms on the control panel go off at once.

"You gonna do something about it?"

 _Think. Think think think think think._ "Let's stick tight to the walls--that'll shake 'em up," he says at last.

 _I hope_.

***

The warden's interminable monologue goes on for what feels like forever. Norra's knees start to hurt and her joints are stiffening from keeping her hands behind her head for so long. Maybe this is some new form of Imp torture--or maybe they don't get much company around here, and this is how they treat all their guests--

There's a loud booming noise, followed seconds later by a series of thuds and muffled explosions. Annoyed at the interruption, the warden reaches for his comlink. Whatever answer he gets, he doesn't like, snarling something unintelligible into the device with obvious disgust.

Norra and Solo and Chewbacca exchange nervous glances. Something's up, and this might be the opening they've been waiting for.

And then the singing begins.

At first, it's a faint, wispy rasp on the edge of perception. Then, as the song grows louder, it's crude, hoarse, unpracticed--in a word, terrible. Norra's heard better performances from Akivan back alley toms during the mating season.

Finally Norra is able to make out the words at last. It helps the singer repeats the whole thing in an endless loop over--either that, or there's only so much creativity this creature is willing to expend on its chosen subject.

" _TO-TAL SLAUGHTER--TO-TAL SLAUGHTER--I WON'T LEAVE A SINGLE LIFE-FORM ALIVE--_ "

"That had better not be what I think it is," Solo mutters.

The warden's freaking out now, gathering the Wookiees around him with a few clicks of the control remote and shouting for more backup into his comlink. Now there's blaster fire in the distance, and the buzz of a vibroknife cutting through metal--accompanied by a background chorus of screams and growls and roars--and that same interminable, endless drone.

" _LA DE DA DE DAI, GENOCIDE. LA DE DA DE DUH, AN OCEAN OF BLOOD--_ "

And as if on cue, a B-1 battle droid decorated with red flame decals sweeps into the room, jerking and swaying in a way that's either a dance, or the electronic equivalent of a seizure. Trailing it is an equally familiar MSE mouse droid with a camera taped to its back, beeping in time to the beat like an exceptionally stupid metronome.

" _LE-E-ET'S BEGINNNNNNN THE KIIIIIIIIILLING TI-IME!_ " Bones warbles happily as he points his blaster straight at the warden, who is literally and metaphorically crapping his pants.

"Yup," Solo says with a sigh and a sidelong look at Norra. "Sometimes I really hate being right."

Which seems churlish to Norra, given that her son's droid is here to rescue them--but on the other hand, she knows exactly what Solo means.

***

"How's it going?" Snap demands as he dodges yet another laser blast by flipping the Falcon on its side from the definitely-not-deactivated prison transport.

"Would be a lot easier if you didn't keep doing that," Ghent reports from his position in the co-pilot's chair as his datapad wobbles in his lap. "It's hard to type upside down."

"I _told_ you to strap in."

"Look, this is not as easy as I usually make it sound, okay? This computer system is really smart and it keeps fighting me--"

His fingers fly over the keyboard as he types, staring at the screen with that particular hyperfocus Snap knows so well, where the entire world narrows to one thing and nothing else exists outside it. It's one reason the two of them get along so well--because they understand that, even when they don't get why.

And right now, it might be all that gets them out of here alive.

Now is not the time or place for argument, but Snap feels compelled to defend himself, just a little bit. "Okay, but I'm kinda trying to keep us from getting killed here--"

Ghent ignores him, staring at screen, biting his lip so hard he draws blood. " _Got it--_ "

***

Mr. Bones has even less patience for monologues that Norra does, or maybe he just doesn't care for artistic criticism. He shoots the warden after the first sputtered insult, but not before the warden orders all six Wookiees after him. However, he neglects to consider Norra, Solo, and Chewbacca, all of whom are off the floor and reaching for their weapons the instant the Wookiees are distracted.

With a howl of pain, the warden realizes his mistake and gestures frantically with the remote. Four Wookiees break off from engaging Mr. Bones and turn towards the three of them. Norra raises her blaster as her attackers charge, praying to whatever gods look after beleaguered mothers in this galaxy that she'll survive to give her son a tongue-lashing, when--

All of the enslaved Wookiees stop mid-motion, clawing at their heads and screaming.

It takes Norra a second to realize what's happened. The warden is a much slower study. He keeps clicking the remote as if expecting it to work--his horror mounting as he realizes he can no longer control the Wookiees anymore, and they turn on him.

They tear the warden apart from limb to limb in a shower of blood and screaming. Blood goes everywhere. Norra ducks as a booted foot comes flying in her direction, and Solo shrugs.

When the slaughter is over, Chewbacca roars something at them that sounds like a question. One of them roars in response and all seven of them rush at each other, embracing and slapping each other's backs in obvious delight at the reunion.

"EXCELLENT," Mr. Bones says, surveying the situation. "MASTER TEMMIN'S MOTHER IS SAFE AND MURDER WAS COMMITTED. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED."

"Wait--" Norra's brain is still catching up from all the excitement-adrenaline-terror of the last few minutes. " _Temmin_ sent you--"

"How'd you get here so fast?" Solo demands. "We left you several klicks out with the kids--have you been following us the whole time?"

"I JUMPED OUT OF OUR TRANSPORT AT HIGH VELOCITY," Bones reports matter of factly.

Norra goes pale. Solo goes paler. "You mean that kid is flying the _Falcon_ \--"

Chewbacca roars, gesturing for his partner to stop dithering.

"Yeah, okay, okay," Solo says, reaching for the belt with his blaster and buckles it back around his waist. He turns to Norra. "You start thawing the prisoners. Chewie and I'll take care of the Imps, with the help of our new friends."

***

Norra's hands shake as she rummages through the coffins in search of the one Brentin has been imprisoned in for who knows how long. She finds him buried towards the back, and drags the coffin out into the center of the room, punching the control panel to wake him.

Stasis fields work by altering the rate of decay inside. Common uses include the preservation of food, flowers, or corpses--not living beings. Evidently Brentin and the other prisoners on the ship were too valuable to kill outright, yet useless for anything else, so the Empire shoved them into a giant storage locker and forgot about then.

Lights flicker on the side, and the lock holding the lid shut creaks open as the stasis fades. Seconds later, Norra has pried open the lid and is pulling a wan, emaciated Brentin Wexley out of his coffin.

His eyes widen as he registers Norra, though at first all he can do is cough. "Norra? Is it really you, Norra?"

"Yeah," Norra says, her eyes blurring with tears as she holds him, trembling as much as he is. "It's okay. We got you. You're safe now."

"Temmin. Is Temmin safe?"

How to even begin to answer that? Norra feels like the worst parent in the galaxy. "Well," she begins, not sure whether to break down in sobs or laughter, "it's complicated--"

Metal clamps around her arms and back, pinning her down.

"HELLO. I AM ENJOYING THIS HUG, TOO," Mr. Bones says, far too close to Norra's ears for comfort. "HUG HUG HUG. A HUG IS LIKE VIOLENCE MADE OF LOVE."

There is an awkward pause as Norra wracks her brains for an appropriate response and decides there really isn't one.

Brentin's mouth hangs open. No words come out.

"GREETINGS," Bones says to Brentin into the sudden silence. "YOU MUST BE MASTER TEMMIN'S FATHER. A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU. DO YOU ALSO ENJOY MURDER?"

From a historian's perspective, the Battle of Kashyyyk is only just beginning. With the electronic control chips disabled, the freed Wookiees will go on to liberate not only the prisoners of the _Ashmead's Lock_ , but the entire planet in a fierce fight that will last a week and a half in all. It will be six more hours before the New Republic forces under Commander Wedge Antilles arrives to fight the three Star Destroyers sent put down the uprising, and the Empire's official surrender is still three months in the future. But it's the moment when the war ends for Norra Wexley--everything else that follows is a lengthy footnote to a foregone conclusion.

It's been a long, winding road, but they can all finally go home as a family. Together.

***

Thanks to Ghent's slicing wizardry, the _Ashmead's Lock_ finally stops shooting and Snap can land the _Falcon_ outside. His relief is short-lived when its usual pilots come barging up the ramp a few minutes later with blasters drawn.

"We didn't leave the ship!" Snap hastily points out to forestall any arguments.

"We did touch a few things, though," Ghent, the traitor, admits sheepishly behind him.

But any tongue-lashing Solo wants to give them is lost as Snap spies his mother supporting a battered but familiar figure out the side viewport. "MOM! DAD!" he screams, bolting past his comrades to embrace his parents.

"Hey, Temmin," Mom says, and Snap is too caught up in the moment to protest that she's calling him by the wrong name.

"Temmin?" his father croaks. It's been years since they've seen each other, and he looks like hell, but Snap would recognize his father anywhere. "I can't believe that's really you--"

"DAD!" Snap cries, burying his face in Brentin Wexley's shoulder as if he's a little kid again, blubbering without any embarrassment or shame.

"GREETINGS MASTER TEMMIN. MISSION SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED. I PERFORMED VIOLENCE AND ALSO A LOVELY RENDITION OF MY FAVORITE SONG, ACCOMPANIED BY MY OWN INTERPRETATIVE DANCE, ALL OF WHICH WAS RECORDED BY MY COMPANION FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS TO ENJOY," Bones pipes up when Snap finally gets around to acknowledging the droid who made it possible.

"Thanks, Bonesy," he says, patting the droid's arm affectionately, as the mouse droid pokes at his feet. He'll watch the footage later when there's time. "Excellent work. I owe you big time for this."

"I hate to admit it, but you kids really saved our skins back there," Solo is saying to a wide-eyed Ghent by the time the five of them make it up the ramp and onto the ship. "And we could always use a slicer of your caliber. Ever thought about joining up--"

"No fair!" Snap shouts. "If Ghent's joining the New Republic, I wanna join, too!"

"I don't see why not. We could use some more pilots," Solo says with a shrug.

"He's _sixteen_!" Mom protests, grabbing Snap's shoulder as if her willpower alone can stop him.

" _Almost_ seventeen," Snap says, on the grounds that rounding numbers never hurt anyone and neither did a little fudging of the truth.

Solo grins. "Hey, don't worry about it, there'll be plenty of time when you're a little older, and your mom'll come around eventually. In the meantime, you're not too young for medals--trust me, the gateway drug to romantic heroism--but they're _great_ for impressing all the girls--" He shakes his head as he studies the two teenagers. "Though maybe you two don't care about that--"

"I wouldn't mind," Ghent says, as he unwraps the camera from the mouse droid and gives it an affectionate pat . "Medals are nice. Very shiny."

" _And_ they fetch a good price on the black market if you need some quick cash," Snap adds.

"I like the way you think," Solo yawns and stretches. "Well, I'll talk to Her Royal-ness and see what we can arrange. Might be medals all around."

"What about the other prisoners?" Dad says, blinking in confusion.

"The princess pulled some strings and there's a transport coming for them and anybody else who wants to leave; it'll be here shortly along with Commander Antilles' fighter wing," Solo says. "Chewie and I will be back here with more reinforcements once we drop you lot off on Chandrila to help Chewie's people out as best we can. But for now, we'd better get out of here before the Empire comes barging in to shut this party down."

He and Chewbacca disappear into the cockpit, leaving Ghent and Snap awkwardly holding hands while Mom settles Dad at the holotable and buries him beneath an emergency blanket. Mr. Bones retreats to his usual corner and starts methodically going through his weapons inventory while the mouse droid recharges nearby.

"Uh," Ghent says, staring at Dad.

With a start, Snap realizes his boyfriend is petrified about the inevitable introduction.

 _When did I end up being the one with social skills?_ he thinks, amused by the irony. He clears his throat.

"Uh, Dad? This is my boyfriend Ghent. He's really awesome and we've saved each other's lives a bunch, and he's the one who found out you were here in the first place so we could rescue you--"

_\--and I really want you to like him, okay?_

"Nice to meet you, sir," Ghent says, adding a salute.

Dad nods and salutes him back. "Nice to meet you, Ghent. Norra told me a great deal about what you two have been up to on the way over." He grins, and even though he's still pale and emaciated, there's a spark in his eyes as if this whole ordeal has been a monsoon-season fever dream. "Sound like quite an adventure."

Everyone laughs, and the tension is broken. "You don't know half of it," Snap says fervently, surveying the whole room--his _family_ \--all together at last.

"OOH! OOH!" Bones pipes up from the corner. "MASTER TEMMIN, MAY I TELL YOUR PROGENITORS THE STORY? I HAVE PREPARED A SONG AND DANCE PRESENTATION ON THIS VERY SUBJECT--"

"How 'bout we tell it together?" Snaps says, settling himself across the holotable from Mom and Dad, and pulling Ghent down on his other side. "It all started when I ventured down into the catacombs below Myrra back on Akiva and I found this droid--"

**Author's Note:**

> I will never be over the fact that in nu!canon Star Wars, the New Republic had ZERO INTEREST in liberating Kashyyyk and Han and Chewie had to go AWOL to do it. What the actual fuck. Fixed that here! (Also, Ghent makes everything better, lol.) 
> 
> Yes, Ghent duct-taped a GoPro to the top of his mouse droid and send it off into battle. BECAUSE HE TOTALLY WOULD. 
> 
> Yes, Bones is singing the "Genocide Song" from _Trigun_. BECAUSE HE TOTALLY WOULD. 
> 
> Stasis fields make no sense, full stop, and neither does the whole plot point of using them to power the prison in _Aftermath: Life Debt_ , so I just skipped over that as much as possible in this. 
> 
> I also stole Bones's line about a hug being "VIOLENCE MADE OF LOVE" from _Aftermath: Empire's End_ , because come on, that's classic Bones right there. Also, SOL-GDA's speech is straight out of _Aftermath: Life Debt_ for similar reasons.


End file.
